Cutting up an Elephant 57 



harnessing themselves ou to the gigantic legs, which 

 they drag a few yards on to the grass. The skin of 

 the belly is then cut longitudinally, and removed 

 from the bottom of the ribs to the spinal column. 

 The ribs are broken with the hands by opening them 

 with force. 1 When the intestines are uncovered they 

 are removed from the abdominal cavity a task which 

 is by no means easy, owing to their weight and size. 

 The sight is a strange one. You would think you 

 were looking at children struggling with an enormous, 

 milky-white eider-down. As the liver, heart, and 

 lungs are already removed, the body of the animal 

 forms an immense cavity, generally full of blood; and, 

 to be more at their ease, ten of the men get inside, 

 where, covered with blood and bathed up to the knees 

 in it, they continue their work. The head is detached ; 

 then, the blood having been preciously gathered in 

 skins, all help in turning over the body, the same 

 method as that described above being carried out 

 with the side which is now uppermost. Once all 

 the parts are detached the natives proceed to make 

 biltong. 



By working from eleven until eight o'clock, all 

 that one can do that day is to carry the two elephants 

 to the camp and to pile the meat there as well as may 

 be, into a veritable mountain. In the evening the 

 hyenas give us concerts with their mournful howling, 

 and so well clean the place where the animals have 



1 The elephant has tender and spongy bones. There is an old 

 native saying that " The hatchet does not sing when the elephant 

 dies." 



